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Worried about fermentation not going well

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Hockeygeek005

NewBee
Registered Member
May 31, 2016
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Hello, im currently working on my first batch of mead, i knew I would learn a lot from this than a bunch of reading would. The first time i added yeast it ended up dying due to me stirring it instead of letting it sit (I read up on everything but yeast thinking itd be easy) either way there was no fermenting happening. I went out and bought another thermometer and read up on yeast. I bought more lavlin D-47 and brought a pot of water up to 109 and added the yeast when it came to 106 and let it sit for 15 minutes, stirred it lightly and added it to my must. I stirred the must again 24 hours after adding the yeast and noticed a small amount of bubbles forming (only a little bit) but my airlock is not bubbling. It has now been 48 hours and everytime I check on it I dont notice the airlock bubbling. Im up for any information or tips for this batch (or my next!)

My recipe is
4 pounds agave flower honey (raw)
1 gallon distilled water
1 packet lavlin D-47 yeast (dead)
1 packet lavlin D-47 yeast (activated)
my gravity reading before adding yeast was 1.102
 
What wasa the temp of the yeast slurry and the must when you piotched? They need to be within 10 degrees of each other!
 
I did not measure! I did not know that they had to be within 10 degrees. In the future do i need to do, just wait until the yeast slurry temp is down or add lukewarm water?
 
Hmm, I suspect if you didn't get your slurry within 10 degrees of your must you probably killed off a good proportion of your yeast and left the rest pretty damaged.

Might be worth pitching again.

Rehydrate your yeast as per packet instructions, or even better use GoFerm, then gradually add your must to your slurry, about 50-100 ml at a time until the temps are within 10 deg, then pitch slurry

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk
 
Hockeygeek005 said:
I did not measure! I did not know that they had to be within 10 degrees. In the future do i need to do, just wait until the yeast slurry temp is down or add lukewarm water?
Click to expand...

Add small amounts of your must to the rehydrated yeast and stir it every 5 minutes until it's close to the temp of your must. Don't wait for air cooling to do it.
 
Thank you all! I added more yeast and within 8 hours the airlock started bubbling at a steady rate!
 
Hi, i also started my first batch, i had just gotten a kit and everything. I made a 5 gallon batch with 12 pounds of natural honey that came from Minnesota. I hydrated the yeast that i got with the honey and proceeded to add the nutrient packets as instructed. the batch started bubbling 48 hours after i had mixed it. It proceeded to bubble at a constant rate. Im now 2 weeks in and it stopped bubbling. I am worried that i damaged the yeast somehow. i measured the gravity of it and still read around a 1
 
MeadNub said:
Hi, i also started my first batch, i had just gotten a kit and everything. I made a 5 gallon batch with 12 pounds of natural honey that came from Minnesota. I hydrated the yeast that i got with the honey and proceeded to add the nutrient packets as instructed. the batch started bubbling 48 hours after i had mixed it. It proceeded to bubble at a constant rate. Im now 2 weeks in and it stopped bubbling. I am worried that i damaged the yeast somehow. i measured the gravity of it and still read around a 1
Click to expand...
Is your gravity around 1.00?

If so then your ferment is likely done.
 
Thank you. cause i was confused, because it showed the potential alcohol next to it and it was less that 5%. also it was supposed to be a dry mead, but it turned out way to dry, any tips on how to fix that. Should i add fruits after I've moved it to the carboy?
 
There are a couple ways to sweeten.
1- Keep adding honey in increments till the yeast hit their tolerance. Depends on the yeast used as to when this might happen.
2 - Stabilize and back sweeten. Need to stabilize first or fermentation will likely re-start.

Adding fruit to the secondary will likely just result in fermentation re-start and you will end up dry again. But it will add a fruity flavour if that is what you wish.
 
You could also add a no-fermentable sweetener such as Stevia or lactose.
I personally like my meads dry so I have only ever step fed to yeast tolerance to achieve a sweeter finished mead.

Others on here have way more experience in what you are talking about.
 
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